Natalie and I ventured east of the Cascades today in a whirlwind trip to
check out the northern reaches of Colockum Road and the Colockum Wildlife
Area, then to venture to the north end of the Quincy Lakes Wildlife Area
before wrapping up our tour of wildlife areas at the Potholes Wildlife
Area near Moses Lake. Along the way we covered 484 miles, survived a
"check engine" light at about 2,500 feet on rugged Colockum Road, and
noted 48 species with nothing earth shattering along the way, other than
a late EASTERN KINGBIRD along the shores of Stan Coffin Lake in the
Quincy Lakes Wildlife Area.

Here is a quick rundown of what we saw at each stop along the way:

Near Easton:
- 15 Turkey Vultures kettling along I-90

Near the Roslyn turnoff:
- 6 TVs along the highway

Cle Elum:
- 2 Osprey on the nest at the Cle Elum turnoff
- 3 TVs circling near I-90
- Sharp-shinned Hawk near the Teanaway River

Swauk Prairie Road:
Things were pretty slow along the entrance to the prairie and around the
cemetery, but just before making the final turn onto the highway to go up
and over Blewett Pass we ran into a large congregation of birds -
everything on our list from the Mountain Chickadee on down. There were
more birds to be seen here, but we needed to move along to cover our route...

- Many Western Bluebird
- American Kestrel
- Small flock of Horned Lark
- Mountain Chickadee
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher
- Western Wood-Pewee
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Female Western Tanager
- Empidonax flycatcher sp. (not vocalizing, so too hard to determine at a
distance)
- Cassin's Finch
- Red Crossbill
- Cedar Waxwing
- Chipping Sparrow

Near Cashmere:
- 7 TVs north of the highway
- Ring-billed Gull

Colockum Road approaching from the Wenatchee side:
We planned to drive up toward the pass as far as we could make it with
our recently repaired Ford Taurus wagon. We could have gone further, but
as we made the steep climb up the rugged rock road at about the 2,500-
foot level I noticed the Check Engine light lit up on our dash. We were
most interested in checking the habitat in this area and trying to find
what birds might be around at the wrong time of the year and the wrong
time of the day. With temperatures in the 90s, we weren't surprised to
find nothing stirring.

We did enjoy watching some butterflies puddling along a wet section of
the road in the riparian area before we drove up into the prairie and
ponderosa pine zone. I will have to examine my photos and ID those
butterflies tomorrow.

As for the car, the Check Engine light turned off when I restarted the
car. I believe a recently repaired vacuum leak may be giving the computer
that runs our aging car fits as it adjusts to a better-running machine.
At least that is what I hope...

- Cedar Waxwing
- American Goldfinch
- Common Raven

Colockum Wildlife Area on Tarpiscan Road (south of Colockum Road):
- Sage Thrasher
- Black-billed Magpie

Highway 28 near Rock Island:
- Belted Kingfisher

Quincy Lakes Wildlife Area, north approach off 5 Road NW:
This was our second visit to the Quincy Lakes Wildlife Area, and while I
wasn't impressed with the habitat on the east end of the wildlife area,
this northern portion of the site is excellent. We had point-blank views
of Great Egret, among other species.

- Barn Swallow
- Tree Swallow
- Red-tailed Hawk (very red individual eating dinner atop a telephone pole)
- American Kestrel
- Ring-billed Gull
- many Great Egret
- EASTERN KINGBIRD seen at a distance of 25 feet atop brush along Stan
Coffin Lake
- Marsh Wren
- American Coot
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Double-crested Cormorant
- 3 Forster's Tern
- 6 White Pelican
- Canada Goose
- Song Sparrow
- Brewer's Blackbird (at the Quincy Golf Course...)
- Killdeer

Potholes Wildlife Area:
Water levels at the Potholes were really low, making it tough to check
the dozen or so peeps in the main remaining pond. There were also a
number of large fish trapped in this lake that were jumping all around in
great splashes. Also had a meadowhawk dragonfly along the edge of the
main pond that I still need to ID, and a Common Green Darner along the
gravel access road as we left the site...

- 3 Caspian Tern (including one immature begging for food the whole time...)
- Western Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Baird's Sandpiper
- Killdeer
- Great Egret
- Great Blue Heron
- Canada Goose
- American Coot
- White Pelican
- Ring-billed Gull
- Black-billed Magpie
- Horned Lark
- Barn Swallow
- Wilson's Snipe

Along I-90 heading home:
- Northern Harrier
- Great Horned Owl
- Olive-sided Flycatcher
- Crow

It was a great, though hot, day to be birding in Eastern Washington!

Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
White Rabbit Publishing -- http://www.whiterabbits.com/
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com/
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html